‘You gave your life so that others wouldn’t get hurt’

Hundreds gather to bury victims of J’lem massacre

Hundreds of mourners gathered for the funeral of Raphael Ben Eliyahu, who was murdered in Friday night’s terror attack in Neveh Ya’acov and was buried on Sunday in Har Hamenuhot in Jerusalem. Ben Eliyahu’s grandson was born to his son, Kobi, just hours after he was killed.

“You never got to hold him,” said Kobi in his eulogy. “You were supposed to come to us for the brit in California, but instead, I came here to take you to the cemetery. I don’t have a hole in my heart, I have a chasm. You gave your life so that others wouldn’t get hurt. I’m sure you’re resting in Heaven. I will admire you forever, my heart has shattered. I won’t be able to call you, dad, to ask you how you are or get good advice from you.”

Ben Eliyahu’s other son Or said: “We were with you in your final moments, and we went from kiddush to kaddish,” he said. “I will never forget those moments. We said goodbye to you on the floor. When you were there, dad, I had someone to talk to, someone to laugh with. I never dreamed in my worst nightmares that you wouldn’t be at my wedding. Only yesterday you got a grandson who you will never know.”

Ben Eliyahu was one of seven who were murdered in a synagogue on Friday. Three other victims, 14-year-old Asher Natan and married couple Eli and Natalie Mizrahi, were buried on Saturday night.

68-year-old Shaul Hai was also buried on Sunday in a private funeral in Givat Shaul.

25-year-old Ilya Sosansky grew up in Neveh Ya’acov and was murdered on his way to work. His friends eulogized him.

“We grew up together from when we were babies,” said his friend Shrona. “People always say about murder victims that they were good, but about you, that can really be said. Even when everything was going badly, he would see things in a good light and would make everyone laugh. There was no badness in him. A man of peace. He went before his time, before he saw the world and brought kids into it.”

Another friend wrote: “I’m in shock, I have no words... It isn’t sinking in, I don’t believe it. You were taken, dear brother. You always had a smile on your face, that’s how I knew you. Rest in peace, my friend.”

Sosansky worked in the Cactus 9 bar – which stayed closed on Saturday. A colleague wrote “You chose every moment to live this life courageously and entirely.

“On Friday at 6 a.m., I got to say thank you and hug you for the last time at the end of the shift, I didn’t think it was the end of your life. You were a master at joy, a Tasmanian devil and always with a smile.”